The Author's POV

Thump—!

A silver steak tore through the air and directly pierced through one of the targets that were located some distance away.

"…One more."

If one looked closely, one'd notice that next to the arrow, were several other arrows.

They were all distance just about the same distance from each other and covered each one of the rings above the bull's eyes mark.

The only spot left was the bullseye.

So long as she got that, she'd get the perfect score…

Khhhh—!

Amanda drew her bow.

It was a big bow. Significantly heavier than any bow she had ever used before in her life. It was also a great deal more powerful than the majority of them, with the exception of her current bow.

A gentle breeze flew past the area around her, bending the grass ever so slightly.

She didn't pay attention to her surroundings.

Her sole focus was the target in front of her. More specifically, the bullseye. The only area that she didn't fill yet.

…Her OCD was flaring up. She needed to hit the target and fill the empty spot.

She couldn't afford to miss.

"Huuuh."

She inhaled deeply and focused on bringing calm to her mind. As time passed, everything that was once moving around her became completely still, and the only thing that she could see was the target.

The wind blew once more, scattering her hair lightly.

She paid it no mind.

She was waiting for the breeze to subside.

The wait didn't last for long. The surrounding turned still, and her fingers raised.

The arrow was about to leave the string. It was just an inch away…

Clank—!

"Amanda are you here?"

Someone suddenly entered, and Amanda's concentration broke.

Thump—!

A whistling sound arose.

The arrow flew through the air at a tremendous speed and struck the target dead on.

Only that…

It didn't hit the bullseye.

Amanda blankly stared at her bow before looking back at the target.

"Oh, it looks like you're training."

Ren, who had just walked in, turned his attention to the target, totally oblivious to what he had just done. A storm was brewing.

"Looks like you've improved a lot."

He was rather impressed.

"Anyways, I'm here to tell you that we're about to leave soon. We need to leave in a couple of hours since it'll take us a while to get to the right plac—"

Bang—!

Amanda abruptly smashed her bow against the ground.

"Damn it! Fuck!"

She let out a string of curses before turning her gaze to Ren, who looked at her with a combination of utter dread and horrified fascination.

He took several steps back.

"Let's talk about this…"

***

Crunch—!

Juices flowed down her chin. Throwing the apple in her hand and catching it again, Priscilla soon took another bite.

"…"

She glanced at Jin who was meditating not so far from the tree branch she was sitting on.

Crunch—!

Hearing the crunch for the nth time, Jin's left eye twitched.

He opened his eyes and cast her a glance.

"…Aren't you supposed to be busy?"

"I am."

Priscilla said, taking another bite of the apple and further irritating Jin.

"If you're busy, then why are you still here?"

"Can't I be?"

Crunch—!

The apple was rather juicy.

"You're doing this on purpose…"

Jin's expression started to change. Lowering his head, he glanced at the area around her.

…It had over a dozen apple cores.

"Huh."

He had to take a breath.

It had been roughly five months since he had arrived on this planet, and the one thing he deeply regretted doing was giving the Duchess her first taste of a cigarette.

Ever since that day, she hadn't stopped hounding him.

At first, she probably came for just the cigarettes, but lately… it seemed like she just likes to make his life more difficult.

He sighed when he thought that far.

'Thank god I'm about to leave. If not, I don't know for how long I'll be able to handle this…'

His patience was running thin. Well, whatever patience he had since he couldn't even beat her to begin with.

"Want an apple?"

The Duchess offered only for Jin to wave his hand and refuse.

"I'm good."

"You afraid I poisoned it?"

"Yes."

"How rude."

The Duchess hopped off the tree branch and moved toward Jin. Her every movement exuded boundless charm, but it had no effect on him at all.

She stopped a couple of inches away from him.

"Have you finally thought of a price?"

"Again with that?"

Jin stood up from his spot and covered his face with his hand.

"I told you, I'm not selling anything. If you want some, come to earth. If not, be on your way; I'm going to go back now."

He patted his body and prepared to leave, surprising the Duchess.

"You're leaving?"

"Yes. My time here is over."

Jin nodded, feeling a bit relieved that the trip over here was finally over.

He had learned and improved quite a lot here. Especially with the demonic energy lingering in his body, which increased his perception over his mana control, but…

As good as it was, he wanted it out of his system as fast as possible.

It was a bit too much for him to handle…

"Why is it only now that I learn that you're leaving?"

The Duchess didn't seem to take the news of his sudden departure very well.

"We've known each other for the past four months, I think I deserve to know."

"Did you, now?"

All he could recall was her bothering him for the past four months.

If it wasn't the annoying sound of apples being bitten or the constant nagging about selling her the cigarettes, she'd find a new way to find trouble for him.

…He was really looking forward to leaving.

Throwing her one last look, he waved his hand.

"I hope we don't see each other again."

He disappeared after that, leaving Priscilla utterly astonished.

"This… t,this…"

She found her teeth clenching very hard against each other as she muttered through her clenched teeth.

"Ungrateful bastard."

Was this his idea of a goodbye?

What a heartless human. Especially after helping him so much over the last four months.

Had it not been for her, he would've never been able to control his demonic energy as well as he did.

She was the main reason he had improved so much.

"See if I see you ag—"

She stopped halfway through her sentence. Turning her head, she caught a glimpse of a small box, and her mouth curled up.

"It looks like you have some conscience."

Looking around, she moved up to it and picked it up.

It was rather light.

"I didn't take him for the shy type. He's kind of cu—"

She stopped halfway.

"…"

Opening the box, she realized there was nothing inside.

Her face twisted like never before.

"You fucking human!!!!!"

***

"Pftt."

"What's wrong with you?

We were currently gathered and prepared to return to earth. From time to time, Jin would let out an occasional chuckle, which he failed to hide in spite of his attempts.

I looked at Melissa.

"Do you have something to do with this?"

"No? Why are you even looking at me?"

"Hmm."

I didn't even bother looking at Amanda. She had no sense of humor, so it probably wasn't her.

"I finally get it…"

Jin murmured, turning his gaze toward me.

I suddenly grew curious.

"What did you get?"

"I get why you always tease Kevin."

"Huh?"

I was caught off guard by his words. What was he on about? Did the demonic energy finally consume his head?

Me, tease Kevin?

I'd never do that...

"Hehe."

He didn't elaborate any further and just laughed.

His behavior made me even more curious, but seeing that we didn't have much time left, I decided to let it go.

'I'll just ask him when we return.'

What was most important at the moment was returning.

Thinking back at what would await me back on earth, my mood sobered up.

'I hope Kevin was able to stabilize the situation.'

My strength increased a lot over the past few months. While I wasn't entirely confident, I was sure that I could now at the very least put up a fight against Hemlock.

With Kevin's and Octavious's help, beating him wasn't impossible.

"Let's go."

I turned to look at the others before heading out of the city.

It was a short trip, but it was well worth it.

*

It took us several days to return to the gathering spot.

By the time we arrived, we found a familiar patch of land and waited there.

"According to Kevin, the portal should open today…"

That was on the premise that nothing happened to him, but I doubted it.

He was strong enough to last more than a month.

Swoosh—!

…and thankfully, he did.

As soon as the portal materialized in front of us, I let out a sigh of relief.

"Huh."

I took a few slow, deep breaths and steeled myself for the sights that awaited me on the other side.

Hopefully, I wasn't too late…

"Let's get going."

I entered shortly after that.